“I’m very grateful to Philips for choosing Quezon City, particularly Barangay Matandang Balara, as their pilot partner for its Simply Healthy Campaign,” says Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte during the launching of the program recently.

She adds, “We are confident that families from Barangay Matandang Balara will benefit immensely from the sessions on proper nutrition and overall wellness.”

Philips Electronics and Lighting Inc. (PELI) is bringing its global advocacy of wellness to the grassroots with Simply Healthy Campaign. A tie-up with the Quezon City Vice Mayor’s Office, breast cancer awareness group I Can Serve, and leading environmental conservation group World Wildlife Fund, the innovative program aims to educate low-income communities on health and wellness.

The program is slated to be rolled out by mid February 2013 at Barangay Matandang Balara in Quezon City that includes 50 families until May 2013.

According to Fabia Tetteroo-Bueno, Philips’ country manager, “The Simply Healthy program targets health and wellness, two topics that we at Philips put great importance on. For this campaign, we’ve sought the help of our partners rom various agencies and groups to help us educate underprivileged families that healthy living is indeed reachable.”

Tetteroo-Bueno said that the Simply Healthy campaign will be spread out in four sessions per month. The sessions will revolve on topics such as family nutrition, women’s health and environmental conservation.

The first session, which focuses on family nutrition, will be conducted with the help of Ruby Frane, RND, the clinical manager for the Food and Nutrition Department of St. Luke’s Medical Center.

The session will feature lessons on proper food preparation, tips on healthy eating, a cooking demo, and a storytelling activity for children. The event runs simultaneously with a medical and feeding session.

The second session will focus on Women’s Health, and will be led by the I Can Serve group, and the Department of Health. Topics include breastfeeding, and the detection, recovery and prevention of breast cancer.

The third Simply Healthy session will focus on energy efficiency and climate change. Supported by the World Wildlife Fund’s Bright Kids program,the session will include discussions on waste segregation, and how to properly conserve electricity. Families will also be taught how to create a community vegetable garden, a project to be supported by the Quezon City Vice Mayor’s Office.

The fourth and final session of the program culminates Philips’ Simply Healthy project, where families who have shown the most improvement throughout the duration of the campaign will be commended.

Besides from the project partners, the Simply Healthy program will be participated in by Philips employees, who will assist in the roll-out of the learning sessions.